Best 22 for 2014

[Auntie.Gerald]

my gut feeling is that Goodes may struggle to play much footy in 2014 due to his constant knee injuries and both knees now having minimal meniscus to support his lateral movement....... but if he is ready to rumble he will play a similar structural role to his GF against the Hawks ie over 50% upfront and a decent chunk back in the midfield running wide of the ruck. This for me is always where Adam best imposes himself on a game. With Tip, Buddy, Reid, Rohan and Goodes rotating thru the forward line Adam that is a stack of talls anyway to juggle against defensive matchups

It appears fairly obvious after the Adam Goodes interview that Kurt and Mike will rotate thru the ruck........if so then Kurt will start in forward pocket like Mike did last year when Mummy started in the ruck and whoever is crumbing will be having a field day !!!

If Shaw is fit an healthy then he will be very difficult to stop playing in the back 6 rotation and equally if Jetts isnt firing we may see Mal playing alot more on the wing with his beautiful passing to set up out massive forward targets on the lead....

The wild card structural change is if the Swans are looking for a fast break B or HBF to open up games and expose the opposition backs against our leading forwards.....not sure who this would be besides Shaw but Rampe has some serious speed and a driving long left foot kick..........or Cunningham could keep pushing for a role like this ?

Buddy for the Hawks in 2012/2013 played alot more outside the 50m arc at HFF and positionally that is where he will be for us even is he has FF or CHF against his name on the sheet......... setting up play and then running onto the next mark ready for a 60m kick on the run at goal is buddy ........he is a nightmare of a match up wider and he loves to come in on a angle at goal

FB: Smithy, T Richards, AJ
HB: Rampe, Grundy, Malceski

FOL: Pyke, Kennedy, Hannes
CTR: Jack, McVeigh, Jetta

HF: ROK, Reid, Buddy
FF: Tippett, Goodes, McGlynn

I/C: Rohan, Mitchell, PArker
Sub: B Jack

23. Shaw
24. Birdy
25. LRT
26. Laidler
27. Cunningham
28. Towers
29. Lloyd
30. X
31. Membrey
32. Marsh
33. Dick
34. Walsh
35. Lockyear
36. pick 15
37. pick 32
38. pick 35
39. pick 44 ?
40. pick 53 ?

41. Perris
42. Biggs
43. Naismith
44. Robinson
45. P.Mitchell
46. ?

[Captain]

People who think LRT and Shaw won't be in the best 22 are dreaming.

Yes it might be their last year and yes they are more likely to be injured, however if fit they will easily be in there.

[Auntie.Gerald]

i suppose the opposite is the nightmare of who you leave out ?

[Captain]

As a defender, LRT is ahead of Rampe and AJ.

Shaw would add more as a sub then Jack.

Experienced players like LRT are absolutely essential if we are to win the premiership.

[Bloods05]

Serious question: Would the 2014 Swans team - on paper - be the strongest Swans team to ever run out onto the field?

Post WW2, yes. But I hear the 1933 team was pretty handy. Similar to this one in some ways. Stars from all over the place.

[Mug Punter]

FB: Smithy, T Richards, AJ
HB: Rampe, Grundy, Malceski

FOL: Pyke, Kennedy, Hannes
CTR: Jack, McVeigh, Jetta

HF: ROK, Reid, Buddy
FF: Tippett, Goodes, McGlynn

I/C: Rohan, Mitchell, PArker
Sub: B Jack

Our top 22 will be very very hard to beat, quality through all the lines

Random Comments:

Don't believe we can play the four talls up front and would really like to see Reid turned into a long term CHB. Would hope that Membrey will make his mark in 2014. Could see ROK fighting for his spot in the team by the end of the season. Although I liked what I saw with KT I feel we became somewhat predictable with him and trust Hoss and the staff to sort this out

LRT will be great general backup in the 22 though not sure if father time is catching up with him.

Shaw for Rampe if fully fit for me. I was massively impressed with Rampe but still see him as needing to be out of our top 22 to win a flag at this stage. Hope he proves me wrong as I love the way he goes about his footy

Would definitely have a spot for Bird in there somewhere, probably instead of BJ. BJ really over-achieved this season but still see him a injury cover. With another season and a weights program under his belt I can see him having a breakout season in 2015

Cannot wait to see Gary Rohan with a full pre-season under his belt, can see him being a genuine A grader in the competition, perhaps even as soon as next year.

[ernie koala]

I don't think having Buddy in the team changes much for Tippett.

Buddy plays mainly from the 50 arc out to the wings. Tippett plays his best footy in the 50 arc.

I hope Tippett spends the vast majority of his time in the forward 50.

From what I've seen of him playing ruck for the Crows...He was only OK...

As a FF, he's elite.

[Bloody Hell]

I don't think having Buddy in the team changes much for Tippett.

Buddy plays mainly from the 50 arc out to the wings. Tippett plays his best footy in the 50 arc.

I hope Tippett spends the vast majority of his time in the forward 50.

From what I've seen of him playing ruck for the Crows...He was only OK...

As a FF, he's elite.

Tend to agree from what I've seen of him and it's easy to draw parallels with what we experienced with White. Can play KP - but play him ruck/KP and he's significantly less effective.

[jono2707]

I think we'll see more of Buddy on the wing and on the ball than we will up forward.....

[goswannies]

Serious question: Would the 2014 Swans team - on paper - be the strongest Swans team to ever run out onto the field?

Post WW2, yes. But I hear the 1933 team was pretty handy. Similar to this one in some ways. Stars from all over the place.

Playing in successive grand finals from 1933-36, the Foreign Legion side of the 1930s was hands down better than any other side we have fielded. No disrespect to Tippett, but as a full forward, he'd be lucky to get a gig as Pratt's boot studder. Nash was the Buddy Franklin of his time ... except consistent & more reliable (heck, Laurie kicked 18 goals in a State game for Victoria once ... & wasn't even shifted to full forward until quarter time!). Herb Matthews Snr could equate to Goodsey (one less Brownlow, but in the 1930s Herb was coming into his prime, 2014 Adam is past his prime). In that 1930s side South recruited nearly a dozen bonafide interstate stars. Currently we draft less than half a dozen kids with potential a year, most of whom don't make it. While our current midfield is generally considered a classy white collar midfield (as opposed to the hard working blue collar midfield of the early 2000s), the polish of the the 1930s mids were reportedly like a white collar on ball brigade with nappysan enhancements ... oozing class from every pore! I suspect that even given the disparity of eras & professionalism (& increase in average height over the decades), we would take our 1930s ruckman over Pyke of 2014. Ok maybe that's a stretch given our tallest follower of the 1933 side was 187cm (though he weighed 101kg) but around the ground they would have been more effective & Terry Brain would have roved better to Pyke's tap work.
It would be interesting to run a computer simulation of a game between the 1930s era side and our 2014 team to see how they'd fare based on the statistical averages of each player (I recall that they've done it for cricket in the past to compare sides of different eras).

2014 will hopefully be an amazing side at its best, but for me, the sides of 1933-36 were probably superior on paper AND on performance.

[Zlatorog]

2014 will hopefully be an amazing side at its best, but for me, the sides of 1933-36 were probably superior on paper AND on performance.

And yet they managed to win only 1 premiership, and we are hoping for more in upcoming years. Interesting isn't it. I suppose it also depends on our opposition and how good they are. We are not the only team that tries to improve every year.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Serious question: Would the 2014 Swans team - on paper - be the strongest Swans team to ever run out onto the field?

To even bethe equal of the best red and white team ever, this lot will have to win THREE flags in a row!

[tasmania60]

traing

very lucky man ?

[Bloodthirsty]

Playing in successive grand finals from 1933-36, the Foreign Legion side of the 1930s was hands down better than any other side we have fielded. No disrespect to Tippett, but as a full forward, he'd be lucky to get a gig as Pratt's boot studder. Nash was the Buddy Franklin of his time ... except consistent & more reliable (heck, Laurie kicked 18 goals in a State game for Victoria once ... & wasn't even shifted to full forward until quarter time!). Herb Matthews Snr could equate to Goodsey (one less Brownlow, but in the 1930s Herb was coming into his prime, 2014 Adam is past his prime). In that 1930s side South recruited nearly a dozen bonafide interstate stars. Currently we draft less than half a dozen kids with potential a year, most of whom don't make it. While our current midfield is generally considered a classy white collar midfield (as opposed to the hard working blue collar midfield of the early 2000s), the polish of the the 1930s mids were reportedly like a white collar on ball brigade with nappysan enhancements ... oozing class from every pore! I suspect that even given the disparity of eras & professionalism (& increase in average height over the decades), we would take our 1930s ruckman over Pyke of 2014. Ok maybe that's a stretch given our tallest follower of the 1933 side was 187cm (though he weighed 101kg) but around the ground they would have been more effective & Terry Brain would have roved better to Pyke's tap work.
It would be interesting to run a computer simulation of a game between the 1930s era side and our 2014 team to see how they'd fare based on the statistical averages of each player (I recall that they've done it for cricket in the past to compare sides of different eras).

2014 will hopefully be an amazing side at its best, but for me, the sides of 1933-36 were probably superior on paper AND on performance.

Thanks GS - I enjoyed the info here, as I don't know anything about the 30's side. You're either incredibly well-researched or incredibly old

[Captain]

Not sure of the 1930's, but this current team lacks duds. I think that sums up why it is/can be so good.

Look at 2005 with Mathews, Ablett and Bevan compared to now. Trying to pick our worst is tough enough, let alone 3 of them!!